UCLA says center Josh Smith is 6-10 305 pounds. Not quite sure I believe that. But he is a pretty good player. Quicker feet than you would think. He did well to avoid a 5th foul but was a little too aggressive on defense and got into a few spots where a call could have gone against him. I also liked him on offense, posted well, turned baseline, sealed with his body and used the glass. He could have an NBA future someday but would probably need to get down to 275, for real.
Every year UCLA has a handsome white player we suspect gets a lot of pussy around campus. There was Jason Kapono, Michael Roll and Lorenzo Mata (jklol) and now it must be Reeves Nelson.
Ok, Florida won, I was wrong this year. But I still think a #2 will go down in this round (which I will still call the 2nd round). North Carolina, Notre Dame or San Diego St. I guess at this point I would say SDSU is most likely, if only because I picked them to go to the Final Four.
It's fun to root for the underdogs but when they win they often play a rocky game like the one between Morehead State and Richmond. Sometimes it's good for the favorites to win because the best teams often provide the best games.
Cool of them to show Derrick Coleman highlights as Faried passed him and Tim Duncan in all-time rebounding this year.
Sand Diego State held on. It was an exciting game, all double OT games are, but it wasn't a great game. San Diego State totally tightened up to let Temple tie the game at the end of regulation, and then Temple blew it in OT. Fran Dunphy played not to lose telling his team to eat the ball on their final two possessions in which they got nothing. SDSU turned it over 3 times in the backcourt in the 2 overtimes and got lazy and gave Temple a layup on a runout, you can't do that in overtime. But they survived and advance, which is all that matters.
Wow, that Pitt-Butler game was one of the worst endings I have even seen.
First, Jamie Dixon tells his team to kill the entire clock with a 1 point lead. How do you not get a shot off there. Why do teams continue to do this. The 5 or 10 extra seconds are not nearly as important as the basket.
Second, Shelvin Mack had a great game, one of the best of his life and he almost cost his team the game by just blatantly running into a guy, for no reason. He would have had a half court heave on the run.
Gilbert Brown, make a free throw, please!
Nassir Robinson bailed out Mack. What a stupid foul. You're standing on the free throw line thinking about how you might win the game because of the other team's idiotic foul then you go commit one yourself. Stupidest thing ever. Even if he cleanly chopped the ball out of Howard's hand he still wouldn't have had time to grab it and shoot it. Dixon probably should have pulled his guys off the line. What fuckin morons.
I'm starting to believe Jamie Dixon is a big reason why Pitt chokes in the tournament every single year. What a horrible job by Pitt.
But Butler deserves credit. They are not a fluke. Upsetting a #1 seed two years in a row, they are a good team and a good program, probably the new Gonzaga.
BYU got a really bad break when Brandon Davies fucked his girlfriend but they may have gotten a favorable draw to get to the Final Four. They can beat Florida and they won't have to face a physical Pittsburgh team in the Elite 8 if they do. I would love to see Jimmer in the Final Four.
I think being on TV probably hurts recruiting for Kansas State. Why would anyone want to play for Frank Martin when he looks like that all the time?
A really exciting finish in KState Wisconsin too. I agree with Frank Martin's decision not to call timeout there down 1. And I agree with Pullen pushing it and trying to get fouled. he just lost it and Wisconsin got and that was pretty much that. Pullen was great though. Wisconsin which I was sure would lose in the first round now has a great chance to go to the Elite 8.
Another great game by Kemba Walker. Not much else to say about that. The dumb shit about 5 games in 5 days should be worn off. I don't think we can use that excuse if they lost to San Diego State or Duke next week. By then there will have been enough time.
Disappointing showing for the Big East. If Notre Dame wins it will send only 3 of 11 teams to the Sweet 16. And 3 of the top 5 suffered major upsets (Pitt, UL and SJU).
But the big story of this game and perhaps the entire tournament is that Butler-Pittsburgh game. And again, I agree both were fouls, maybe the one on Howard could have been let go, but it was the mental mistakes (including the wasted possession by Pitt) that decided this game, not the referees.
Excellent analysis as always. I love reading these posts.
ReplyDeleteI am nervous about the Focks/Damino matchup at 3:00 today.
Good luck to Cuse.